Beach erosion by wave action is a common occurrence along the shores of large bodies of water where persistent wave action occurs. Various proposals have been made heretofore for combatting such erosion. The most effective control structures appear to be those corresponding to the disclosures of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,387,458 and 4,073,145. The structures disclosed in those patents comprise walls made of concrete blocks having openings therein which are arranged in such manner that the openings are substantially horizontal and face seaward and landward. Alternate rows of such block have their openings staggered so that such openings form tortuous passages through which water and entrained sand may pass in response to the flow of incoming and outgoing waves through such openings. The tortuous nature of the passages through the blocks forming the wall causes the energy of the waves to be dissipated, thereby promoting the deposit of sand on both the landward and seaward sides of the wall, as well as in the passages themselves.
The erosion control structure disclosed herein constitutes an improvement on the structures disclosed in the aforementioned patents.